I’m curious- what’s the most unique vacation you’ve taken? Looking for ideas on something very different than the typical all inclusive or boring vacation. Wellness retreats? Kayaking adventure? Something random? Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Volcano hiking tour with G (gap) Adventures - think it was called the Volacano Trail --Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatamala and Honduras. some hikes where hard some easy but an amazing tour overall.

Inca Trail Peru organized by GotoPeru.org
GOTOPERU.COM
Travel Packages to Peru | Machu Picchu Travel

Another bucket list: kayaking off the coast of Belize

Iceland!!

And a sailing trip in the west fjords of Iceland, check out @auroraarktika

Looks like I’m commenting twice for each ... same as Lori Belize with @islandexpeditions

Inca trail... canoe trip down Belize river....Galapagos..

Cruise?

An eco adventure resort in the bocas islands in panama, amazing!!

we did a cruise through Norway (start/end in Copenhagen)

Bermuda had some of the best snorkeling we’ve ever seen, and some of the most amazing beaches!

kayak and camp with the orcas in B.C.

3 day Baja adventure with wide open Baja, they pick you up at the San Diego airport, drive you to Mexico and you spend the next 3 days driving the same track as the Baja 1000. You spend a night in an off grid hotel on the top of a mountain that can only be accessed byt eh baja trucks or dirt bike (this is all assuming of course that you enjoy motorsport activity)

New Mexico, all of it, great road trip through the state. Santa Fe is amazing and this is a hidden gem. https://m.facebook.com/ojocaliente/

Hike the west coast trail.
Machu Picchu, Peru is other worldly and you have to see it in person to appreciate/understand it. Whether you hike
in doing the Inca trail or just homestead in Aguas Caliente and take a day trip to the ruins. But if you’re going to Peru go to Lake Titicaca to see the floating islands too.
New Zealand- so many things to do depending on what island you pick to visit and how long you have.

A Transatlantic cruise that stops at least a day or 2 in Azores. All of those crater lakes
Its our favourite place on earth.

Sharon I’m highly considering a TransAtlantic cruise as I love sea days the best! I’m at 11 cruises so looking for a longer one now.

Leah make sure you start in Europe & end in the US - which are the TA's in the fall. That way you gain an hour almost every day. It's like getting another half day free cruise lol

Sharon how did you find the one way flight cost from Calgary to Rome or some other place in Europe and the one way from Ft Lauderdale to Calgary. That’s what prevents me from booking is that high cost. It cost me $1375 return per ticket to Ft Lauderdale in February and I said never again doing a 7 day Caribbean due to flight cost and hotels !!!

2 1/2 week Kenyan Safari plus beach time on the coast - loved it! Yoga retreat 30 days in Costa Rica - loved it! Bikram yoga intensive at Kata Hot Yoga on Phuket Island - loved it! Kathmandu before the earthquake as a single female backpacker - loved it! Up next - The Camino (33 day 800km trek) from France to Spain

Peru rainforest jungle trip.

https://www.perunature.com/.../amazon-parrot-clay-lick.../
PERUNATURE.COM
Parrot Clay Lick | Tambopata, Peru - Rainforest Expeditions

Take a freighter trip on a multi cargo vessel. We did a round the world on RICKMERS....ship named New Orleans....voyage called....the Pearl String. They have many destinations and lengths of trips....there are websites in freighter travel. Multi cargo..stops longer in ports....container freighters just unload and go....i dont recomend taking a container ship.

Yvonne closer trip is with a Marine Link Tours out of Campbell River.

5 weeks in a house in the sacred valley of Peru with my kids. Side trips to Machu Picchu, Las Salinas, Cuzco, Urubamba, and a couple days in a lodge in the rain forest near Puerto Maldonado.

Iceland!

Check out backroads.com amazing cycling holiday
BACKROADS.COM
Backroads Active Vacations - Bike Tours, Walking & Family Vacations

Nepal Manaslu trek

Vietnam is incredible, love G Adventure tours. Anything from easy to active, shoestring to National Geo tours. Different types for all budgets and age and physical fitness levels. https://www.gadventures.com/
GADVENTURES.COM
Adventure Travel & Tours - Book Your Trip - G Adventures

I’m not a big adventurer: some of the best vacations I’ve ever had were choosing a destination, having a base for the duration and often walking and gawking, taking local transit, talking to people. Have done this in varied places like Denmark, Germany, Amsterdam, San Diego, New York area, New Orleans, Savannah, London, BC interior... Live like a local instead of madly rushing.

Toured remote parts of Yemen- amazing country but was somewhat safer than or we just didn’t fully know what was going on. Hopefully they return to a somewhat stable country someday as I would love to take my son. Very rich in history and friendly people at the time.

Probably my most unique will be visiting Turkey this Sept/Oct.

We sooo loved Turkey. Alittle unstable now though to go but diff our fav and have been to many places. Doing Vietnam, Cambodia and Laoes in March 2020. Pretty pumped about that. Did not like the Philippines though at all.

I was so pleasantly surprised with how lovely and laid back the bay of kotor in montenegro was. Less expensive than Italy too. Wanted to travel into Albania but my partner wasn't up for it. Heard it's amazing too.

60 day camping trip in Africa with Intrepid Travel.

Signed up for a guided tour of the Subaru Space Observatory at the top of the volcano on the big island of Hawaii and watched the sunset then stargazed.
On another trip we went on a morning sunrise hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia, central Turkey.

Andy W. Kwan I’m going to Cappadocia in September

Thanks for some great suggestions!

Bulgaria 3 week bus tour with week stay at the Black Sea near Nesbar ...

https://www.thebodyholiday.com/
My friend has gone a few times and it's on my list
THEBODYHOLIDAY.COM
St Lucia All Inclusive Resort | Wellness Resort - The Body Holiday

Nicole - this looks amazing! I couldn’t find any pricing. Any ideas of how much she spent?

Kristin no sorry, and she lives in UK. I know I looked up prices before hmmmm

Just go in like you're booking and you'll get prices

Driving all over canada as far as yellowknife

Safari in East or South Africa. I went to Timbuktu in Mali years ago which was so random but it's not safe to travel there anymore.

Hike the west coast trail.

Lanzarote, Canary Islands

PERU - Amazon jungle; Nazca lines; sand dunes; eating guinea pig yum yum

Just got back from Vietnam... Hostels, scooters, and Street food for days!

Mountains biking in Guatemala

- Really enjoyed Cairo this year and could have spent longer. We were the only white people we saw most of the time
- Istanbul is my favourite city and lots to do in Turkey in general
- Boating the backwaters of Kerala in Southern India is amazeballs
- Loads of fun stuff to do in the UK and Ireland that is outside of London

Colorado Canyon trip! For 10 days we rafted down the river looking up at the Grand Canyon!! Amazing! The outfit we used, supplied everything, minus your clothes. They cook for you, everyone participates in unloading and loading of the rafts (if able). We went down some crazy rapids, and enjoyed some peaceful floats too. Many stops along the way to hike, have lunch or enjoy the wildlife you see along the way.

Summer ski trip to Chile. Santiago is an amazing city and ski resorts 1.5 from the city

East African Safari, best ever trip, 5 day tour in Kenya and 5 day tour in Tanzania and 5 days in Zanibar just soaking up the sun.

Faith did you do this as a tour? If so which company? Thanks

G Adventures for the safaris, we booked it all thru a Travel agent in down town Red Deer. The pictures we took of the animals we seen during the safari will keep our memories fresh re: this vacation the rest of our life's. We have travelled around the world but this was by far our favourite vacation.

I'm taking a Via train trip across Canada in August. Itll be the most adventurous planned trip I've done ever. I'm usually pretty spontaneous and eluff to " vacations".. that usually involve just going to visit someone. . So 3 weeks of travellng on a train.

Jenny are you traveling alone

Most unique vacation? Have been a couple. Antarctic was one.

Look up G-adventures

Turkey was enchanting

The Galapagos is one of my all time favourites. Let me know if you want to go and I can give some good ideas!

Verna thanks! We did the Galapagos a few years ago and loved it!!

The other trip is Egypt and Jordan..No kayaking but fantastic in its own way.

Verna nice! Thanks for sharing

Israel I had shivers in this country so many times I lost count. I am not a very religious person but Jerusalem and the old city were fantastic. PM me for the best guide ever

Jungle trekking in Sumatra

We just went here https://craftbeerandwilderness.com/ it was fantastic! The area where it is amazing! Breathtaking scenery and the food and beer were amazing. I highly recommend it
CRAFTBEERANDWILDERNESS.COM
Craft Beer Brewers Wilderness Retreat Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, BC

Took a 24 person riverboat up the Amazon River in Peru. Swam in the Amazon, fished for and ate piranhas, visited remote villages, trekked through the jungle. Fantastic!

Oh wow
That’s sounds amazing , did you see Manchu Picchu too ?
Who did you book with ?

We only did the Amazon. We are in our late 60’s and decided to do one at a time. We will do Manchu Pichu on another trip. We did it through G Adventures.

Thelma we did the Manchu pichu and Amazon riverboat in same tout, was incredible, love gadventures. Doing highlights of Morocco with them in the fall.

Maryse Nadeau Beeney We will be in Spain for 10 days followed by a week in Morocco in November. Looking forward to it.

Iceland! Rent a camper van and drive around at your own pace! Nothing but the camper needs to be booked in advance

Animal Safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania and riding camels in the desert in Morocco! Incredible!!’

Kate did you do all of this with an organized tour?

Stephani no we organized it ourselves so if you’re interested I can give you some of the info for the places we went and tour companies we used. We did each of these as two separate trips- went to Morocco when we went to Europe because it’s so close. Then a couple years later went to Tanzania. We organized everything ourselves and it worked out great!

F

A 100 mile walk through the Yorkshire Dales with my BFF ( Skipton To Penrith). Absolutely fabulous!!!

Jordan - watching the sunset in the Wadi Rum Desert, Petra, the ruins of Jerash, floating in the Dead Sea. My favorite vacation was Turkey.

Shannon what is your must see in Turkey? Would or did you go to Serbia? I am going next July and trying to plan it all now.

Leslee Paterson My favorites in Turkey were Bergama, Pamukkale, Ephesus, Cappadocia, and of course, Istanbul. I would skip Ankara. If you are in to Roman ruins, Aphrodisias is amazing and off the beaten path so you shouldn't encounter a lot of tourists. The sunrise balloon ride in Cappadocia is a must. We didn't do any of the beach towns. If you want an authentic turkish bath experience, the one in Bergama would be in. No tourists except for us. We didn't go in to Serbia.

We stayed in our friend's tree house, deep in the southern rain forests of Costa Rica, away from most civilization. You had to hike into the house, hike out your garbage, but it was the most unique experience we have EVER had!

My trip to Alaska. It was a flight to Whitehorse, a bus trip to Skagway where we boarded The Canadian Princess. It was one of her last cruises and she was run by steam. She had some mechanical issues. We were pulled by a rug boat around Prince Rupert. They got her going and we continued down the coast. We had to pull into Bella Bella and have the fire department fill her up with water because it was loosing steam. Then it was not dating well. They managed to limp into Port Renfrew and decided to feed everyone a lovely bbq salmon dinner and then flew us back to Vancouver. Missed a few hours of sailing time. That was a bummer but no one couldnt say it was an adventure.

Dubai!! Its much safer than most people think & tend to mistake for other countries around there (its not Saudi Arabia). And tons to do. I was amazed at how many australians & british people were vacationing there. We had high tea in the Burj Kalif, tallest building in the world. There are stunning beaches and very kid friendly too. Its hot in day so life seems more vibrant at night. I also rode the fastest roller coaster in the world at Ferrari World. Also flew through the north pole to get there on Emirates plane.

Went to a fasting resort in Thailand and a nude couples resort in Jamaica

Jamie fasting? Like you fast the whole time ????

Candis yes.
It’s called health oasis resort

If you are looking local Anchor D cabins and day rides are awesome, but they do to multi day treks into the mountains with overnight camping for a grander adventure.
More far flung - Japan - the island of Shikoku has 99 temples that you can visit. We hiked up to only a few and they were very secluded and beautiful. There also a few beautiful Riokans with onsens (baths) that we fell in love with. We stayed in the Iya Valley. It is not the fanciest ryokan in Japan, but we loved it!
Himeji Castle at the start of the Cherry blossom festival, has a wonderful Sake opening ceremony with lots of food and fun. I also can't say enough about Hiroshima (the atom dome is now a place of peace and reflection) and Osaka (the aquarium is unreal). Of course there is also Kyoto with the restored temples and bright colours. Very easy country to navigate and everyone we met was lovely. http://www.hotel-hikyounoyu.co.jp/
HOTEL-HIKYOUNOYU.CO.JP
ホテル秘境の湯

Look up g adventure tours. Lots of great places.

Celtic Traverse was pretty amazing

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Svalbard

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https://www.islandexpeditions.com/.../beliz.../classic-trips. one of the best adventure vacations ever!
ISLANDEXPEDITIONS.COM
5-10 Day Belize Itineraries | Island Expeditions

Yoga retreat in Belize at Ak'bol, Roatán for snorkeling. Some of the best snorkeling I have done in the entire world and it was right from the beach, no need to pay for a boat ride!

Allison this sounds amazing

All ours are off the beaten path. Some most memorable is the village of Bukit Lawang on the island of Sumatra. Stayed in an Eco Lodge and trekked for hours in the jungle I’m search of orangutans. Komodo Island in Indonesia. Bali is amazing and has so many things to see. Stay in villages to see the real culture. Lombok is another amazing place. So many sights to see in all these places such as temples, waterfalls, volcanos, incredible beaches. The people are amazing.

We took Spanish and Yoga Classes at a permaculture farm in Colombia. I highly recommend checking it out. https://www.ecohostelmedellin.com/
ECOHOSTELMEDELLIN.COM
Eco Hostel | Medellin, Colombia | Spanish School, Permaculture, Yoga

Cycling trip in France with Exodus Tours.

following! great ideas

Go to Nashville.. totally on my bucket list

That’s not a Kayaking retreat but I’m sure wellness would go along with it somehow

Iceland!! 100% most unique vacation and place I've ever been!

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4 day horseback ride through the sacred Valley in Peru

Sing Sing in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. (Every two years all the tribes send a group to compete. They dance and are dressed in their unique tribal costumes. You can go right up to individuals, speak to them and get Nat Geo worthy pix). I haven’t yet met anyone who has been to PNG, let alone up into the highlands.

Leslie this sounds AMAZING

Petra, Jordan
Iguazu Falls, Argentina side
Chiang Mai, Thailand

Pertra, Jordon, dead sea!

Cartagena, Columbia with a side of Panama too
Machu Picchu with Peru
Hike into Actun Tunichal Muknal (ATM cave), Belize